Short answer: choose a sliding wardrobe if the space in front of the wardrobe is tight, for example a bed, a desk or a door within about 60cm of it, because sliding doors never swing into the room. Choose a hinged wardrobe if the room is shallow, if you want to see the whole inside at once, or if you are working to a smaller budget. In our range, most sliding wardrobes are 57 to 62cm deep and most hinged ones are 51 to 58cm deep, so the deciding measurement is usually the floor in front, not the wall behind. This guide compares sliding vs hinged wardrobes with real sizes and prices from the 280-plus wardrobes we sell, all with free delivery to mainland England and Wales.
Last updated: November 2026. Prices and sizes are taken from our live product pages on the date above.
Sliding vs hinged wardrobes at a glance
| Sliding door wardrobe | Hinged door wardrobe | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical depth (our range) | 57–62cm on most models (e.g. Arti AR-17 57cm, Winn II 61.2cm, Tokyo and Madryt 62cm); up to 71cm on the Maxi MX-06 | 51–58cm (e.g. Base 51cm, Alicante and Blomvik 52cm, Bali 58cm) |
| Space needed in front | Only standing room: the doors stay within the frame | Standing room plus the width of one door, roughly 40–50cm on most of our models |
| Access to the inside | Half at a time on a 2-door model, two-thirds on a 3-door | Everything at once with all doors open |
| Typical heights | 200–218cm on most models; 235cm (Maxi) and 245cm (Trosa) for tall rooms | 176–210cm |
| Widths we sell | 100cm to 270cm | 47cm to 300cm |
| Price range on our site | From £213.99 (Home Nook Slim 100cm) to £897.99 (Amsterdam 250cm with LED) | From £151.99 (Base 80cm) to £1,215.99 (Manhattan I 200cm) |
| Number in our range | 185 sliding door wardrobes | 98 hinged door wardrobes |
The one measurement that decides it: the floor in front
Most people measure the wall. Measure the floor as well. Take a tape from the wall where the wardrobe will stand out into the room, and note where it first hits something: the bed, a radiator, a chest of drawers, the bedroom door when it is open.
For a hinged wardrobe you need the cabinet depth, plus the width of one door, plus somewhere to stand. On a 100cm two-door model such as the Alicante I 2 Door Hinged Wardrobe 100cm (£256.99, 52cm deep), each door is about 50cm wide, so a fully opened door reaches roughly 100cm out from the wall. On a four-door 200cm model the doors are narrower, at about 50cm each, so the swing is about the same.
For a sliding wardrobe you need the cabinet depth plus somewhere to stand, and nothing else. The Winn II Sliding Wardrobe 170cm with 3 Drawers (£333.99) is 61.2cm deep, and its doors stay inside that 61.2cm whether they are open or shut.
A simple rule from those numbers: if there is less than about 100cm of clear floor in front of the wall, a sliding wardrobe is usually the better fit. In many UK double bedrooms the wardrobe faces the side of the bed, and that gap can be as little as 60 to 80cm. That is the room a sliding door was designed for.
When a sliding wardrobe is the better choice
- The bed or a desk sits close to the wardrobe. Sliding doors open with the bed in the way; hinged doors hit it.
- You want a full-length mirror without a separate mirror. Mirrored sliding doors give you one on the move. The Arti AR-17 Sliding Door Wardrobe 180cm (£514.99, 218cm high, 57cm deep) has mirrored sliding doors, three hanging rails and five shelves, in Oak Shetland, White Matt or Grey Matt.
- You are filling a long wall. Wide sliding wardrobes look like one fitted unit. The Havana ID-11 Sliding Door Wardrobe 250cm (£523.99, 215cm high, 61cm deep) covers 2.5 metres for under £525, and the Winn II 3 Door Mirrored Sliding Wardrobe 270cm with 6 Drawers (£622.99) is the widest single unit we sell.
- You want drawers built in. The Winn II range builds a stack of drawers into the front of the wardrobe, below a cut-away door, so you can open a drawer without sliding a door across. That saves buying a separate chest. The mirrored Winn II 170cm with 3 Drawers (from £376.99) is a good size for a small double room.
The trade-offs: you only see half of a two-door sliding wardrobe at a time, so a 100cm or 120cm sliding model can feel narrow inside. Sliding wardrobes are also deeper, at 57 to 62cm against about 52cm for most hinged ones, and the doors run on a track that needs the odd wipe to keep it running quietly.
When a hinged wardrobe is the better choice
- The room is shallow but has open floor. At 52cm deep, the Alicante II 4 Door Mirrored Hinged Wardrobe 200cm (£437.99, 202cm high) sits 10cm closer to the wall than most sliding models. It has soft-close doors and mirrors on the two centre doors.
- You want to see everything at once. Open both doors and the whole interior is in front of you. That matters most on narrow wardrobes of 100cm or less.
- Budget. Hinged wardrobes start lower. The Base 2 Door Hinged Wardrobe is £151.99 (80cm wide, 176cm high, 51cm deep), and the Alicante II 2 Door Mirrored 100cm is £276.99.
- You want a full mirror on every door. The Alicante III 4 Door Full Mirror Hinged Wardrobe 200cm (£474.99) and the Blomvik III 2 Door Full Mirror 100cm (£371.99, 52cm deep) mirror every door, which makes a small room feel lighter.
- A very large wall on a budget. The Alicante I 6 Door Hinged Wardrobe 300cm is £521.99 for three metres of storage.
The trade-offs: each door needs its own swing space, and a door that opens against a bed or a chest of drawers will only open part of the way.
Is a sliding wardrobe always more expensive?
No. Per centimetre of width, hinged wardrobes usually cost less, but not always. Here are like-for-like widths from our live prices:
| Width | Hinged example | Sliding example |
|---|---|---|
| 100cm | Alicante I 2 door, £256.99 (52cm deep) | Madryt 2 door mirrored, £408.99 (62cm deep) |
| 150cm | Alicante I 3 door, £318.99 | Tokyo I 150cm, £441.99 (200cm high, 62cm deep) |
| 200cm | Alicante I 4 door, £398.99 | Winn II 200cm with 3 drawers, £356.99 |
| 250cm | Alicante I 5 door, £460.99 | Tilburg 250cm, £592.99 |
At 200cm, the Winn II sliding wardrobe with built-in drawers costs less than the plain four-door hinged Alicante I. Compare the exact width you need rather than assuming either type is cheaper.
Small bedroom? Check the slim wardrobes first
If the room is narrow as well as small, a standard 60cm-deep wardrobe can take too much of the floor. Two lines in our range are built for this:
- Home Nook Slim sliding wardrobes are only 39.1cm deep, from the Home Nook Slim 120cm (£237.99) to the Home Nook Slim 200cm (£331.99). The rail is fixed front to back under a shelf, so hangers face the doors. A normal side-to-side rail needs about 55cm of depth.
- Home Nook hinged wardrobes are 42cm deep, with a shelf column beside the hanging space, from the Home Nook 2 Door 89cm at £193.99.
Both are about 210cm tall and come with wall-fixing fittings, which must be used on a tall, shallow cabinet.
If there is no wall left for a wardrobe at all, move the storage under the bed. The Denver Multi-Lift Ottoman Bed (from £405.99) lifts from the side or the end and holds bedding, cases and out-of-season clothes. For children’s rooms, a cabin bed with drawers such as the Kudl Multi Drawer Cabin Bed with Bookcase Headboard (£331.99) does the job of a chest of drawers. There is also a separate range of kids’ wardrobes.
Check the ceiling before you order
Flat-pack wardrobes are built lying down and then tilted upright. When it tilts, the cabinet’s diagonal briefly needs more height than the finished wardrobe. The diagonal is the square root of height² + depth²:
- Arti AR-17 (218cm high, 57cm deep): about 226cm needed to stand it up.
- Havana ID-11 (215cm high, 61cm deep): about 224cm.
- Tokyo, Tilburg and Madryt (200cm high, 62cm deep): about 210cm.
- Alicante and Blomvik (202cm high, 52cm deep): about 209cm.
- Trosa (245cm high, 64cm deep): about 254cm, so it suits rooms with high ceilings only.
Many UK bedrooms have ceilings of around 230 to 240cm, but older loft rooms and new-build rooms with dropped ceilings can be lower. Measure at the back wall where the wardrobe will stand, not in the middle of the room. Coving and sloping ceilings are where wardrobes get stuck.
Inside: hanging height and drawers
Full-length dresses and long coats need about 150cm of drop below the rail. The Winn II gives about 155cm of hanging height in its long bay and about 72cm in its short bay for shirts and jackets. The Alicante I 100cm gives about 161cm under its rail. If you mostly fold, look for shelves and drawers inside. If you mostly hang, a tall wardrobe of 210cm or more with a single high rail suits you best.
No room for drawers inside? Pair the wardrobe with one of our chests of drawers, keeping the finish the same. Many ranges come in Oak Sonoma, Oak Artisan, White Matt and Black Matt.
Our quick recommendations
- Small double room, bed close to the wardrobe: Winn II mirrored 170cm with drawers (from £376.99).
- Mirror and oak look, 180cm wall: Arti AR-17 (£514.99).
- Long wall, best value per metre: Havana ID-11 250cm sliding (£523.99) or Alicante I 6 door 300cm hinged (£521.99).
- Shallow room with open floor: Alicante II 4 door mirrored hinged, 52cm deep (£437.99).
- Narrow room or alcove: Home Nook Slim sliding, 39.1cm deep (from £213.99 at 100cm).
- Need it before Christmas: check the lead time on the product page first. The Havana ID-11 shows 2 to 3 weeks and the Arti AR-02 250cm (£510.99) shows 2 to 4 weeks.
- Feature piece: the Amsterdam 3 Door Mirrored Sliding Wardrobe 250cm with drawers and LED (£897.99).
Browse every model by type: sliding door wardrobes, hinged door wardrobes, corner wardrobes or all bedroom storage.
Delivery, assembly and paying
Every wardrobe on our site comes with free delivery to mainland England and mainland Wales, including Anglesey. We cannot deliver to Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Wight or the Isles of Scilly. Our wardrobes are made to order by Arte-N, and each product page shows its current lead time. On current listings that ranges from 2 to 3 weeks (Havana ID-11) to 6 to 8 weeks on some models. We confirm a delivery date by email or phone before the wardrobe leaves the warehouse. Wardrobes arrive flat-packed for self-assembly, and you can spread the cost with Klarna at checkout.
Frequently asked questions
Are sliding wardrobes better than hinged wardrobes?
Neither is better everywhere. Sliding wardrobes suit rooms where the bed or other furniture is close to the wardrobe, because the doors don’t swing out. Hinged wardrobes suit shallow rooms with open floor space, cost less at most widths and let you see the whole interior at once.
How much space do I need in front of a hinged wardrobe?
Allow the width of one door plus room to stand. On most of our hinged wardrobes the doors are about 40 to 50cm wide, so plan for roughly 90 to 100cm of clear floor from the face of the wardrobe. A sliding wardrobe needs only standing room, about 50 to 60cm.
How deep is a standard wardrobe in the UK?
Most full-size wardrobes are 52 to 62cm deep, because a standard coat hanger is about 45cm wide and needs room to hang side to side. In our range, hinged models such as the Alicante are 52cm deep and sliding models such as the Tokyo and Madryt are 62cm. Slim wardrobes such as the Home Nook Slim are only 39.1cm deep and hang clothes front to back.
Can a sliding wardrobe go in a small bedroom?
Yes, and it is often the best choice for one, because the doors need no floor space. Check the depth: a 61 to 62cm sliding wardrobe plus a 90cm single bed needs about 1.5m from wall to bed edge, plus walking space. If that is too much, look at the 39.1cm-deep Home Nook Slim sliding wardrobes.
Will a wardrobe ordered now arrive before Christmas?
It depends on the model’s lead time, which is shown on each product page. The quickest on current listings are the Havana ID-11 (2 to 3 weeks) and the Arti AR-01 and AR-02 (2 to 4 weeks). Many others take 3 to 6 weeks, so an order placed in mid-November could arrive in December, but this is not guaranteed. We confirm the delivery date with you before dispatch. If you need storage sooner, ask us which models are quickest before you order.